The domestic production of beer is an old art, dating back many years. Historically, such beer has been brewed in a large container such as a tub or keg and then transferred to bottles and capped for storage until used.
It has been long recognized that oxygen is an enemy of beer. The fermentation of beer in an open container generates a blanket of carbon dioxide which covers the surface of the fermenting brew and protects the underlying liquid from the oxygen in the ambient atmosphere. The protective layer of CO.sup.2 is helpful in protecting freshly brewed beer during the bottling process, but it is important that the bottling be carried out promptly to minimize the risk of contamination because of the evaporation of the protective CO.sup.2 blanket.
My earlier Pat. No. 4,676,283 recognizes the difficulty of keeping the oxygen out of the beer while transferring freshly brewed beer from a large container into individual bottles, and discloses apparatus for making beer by transferring either the pressurized CO.sup.2 or the liquid from one container into a storage bottle without at any time exposing either the CO.sup.2 or the liquid to the atmosphere. The troublesome bottling step and the expensive capping operation were thereby eliminated. The system is effective but the apparatus is expensive.